


Life, Soap, Poverty

by dazzel_almond



Category: No. 6 (Anime & Manga), No. 6 - All Media Types, No. 6 - Asano Atsuko
Genre: Capitalism, How to make soap with Shion the show, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 05:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7788175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dazzel_almond/pseuds/dazzel_almond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shion makes some soap and learns how to organize his and Nezumi's joint account.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life, Soap, Poverty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [secretagentfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretagentfan/gifts).



> Wrote this for secretagentfan. Enjoy.

Shion has begun to collect glass jars, (using the money he’s collected through washing dogs) in a feeble attempt to make soap.

While Shion always has the fact that he has the ability to create a vaccine or cure (it is an easy thing to do once isolating whether the bee toxin works via poison or virus) theorizing without action does nothing. So Shion has been stuck looking into other scientific ways he would be able to help the populace, one such way being: cheap soap. 

Shion pulled one of the bottles this one filled with purified animal fat, purified via homemade strainer so it still smells like meat but doesn’t rot, and began heating the jar again. Beside him were some beta soap models molded with an ancient ice tray. 

Nezumi of course was not against this development. The concept of free soap appealed to him even though he knew he’d never be able to get away with using low-grade soap for his performances. 

But he did not like the way the dried fats and oils made everything the jars touch slimy. 

Nezumi came through the door and undid his hair. Today was a rehearsal and performance day. He did not feel particularly sick from the audience tonight but seeing boiling fat made him pinch his nose. 

“You’re making candle wax?” Nezumi asked sarcastically while eyeing the cream colored ice cube soaps. 

Shion shook his head knowing that Nezumi knew full well what he was doing. “It’s been going successfully.” He looked over to Nezumi. “Chemistry is amazing, especially the recipes used from years ago.”

“Where’d you learn that?” Nezumi swiped one of the beta soaps. “Because why would No. 6 ever teach anyone how people lived years ago?” He smelled the soap but it didn’t smell too bad, smelled edible even. Nezumi knew it was soap but still. 

“They didn’t. I made my own conclusions.” Shion watched Nezumi smell the soap and added, “I didn’t waste money on essential oils so it won’t smell like herbs.”

Nezumi brought the soap away from his face. “So they really didn’t teach you anything of import in that city. Enlightening.” He began heading towards the basement or wherever the faucet is for showering. 

“I knew that I’d need fat and oils to make soap so I’m going to use fat and oils to make soap, you know what I—“ Shion saw Nezumi head out of the room and it took a second to puzzle it out. “UH wait! I was going to test it on the dogs first.” 

Nezumi snorted. “Inukashi wouldn’t like that you would test questionable substances on their dogs.” He came to the faucet and sat down to take off a shoe. 

“It’s not questionable it’s just fats and oils! Each which would have opposing poles, pulling the water molecu—Are you undressing?” Shion looked back at the door and wondered if he should leave, and then maybe explain how soap molecules are hydrophobic from behind the door. 

Nezumi began pulling off his sock. “I’m just going to test it on my leg.” He held the sock up—it’s a knee sock or something because he’s in work clothes. “Wanting me to undress?” 

“I was going to talk about the properties of soap from behind the...” Shion’s eyes widened at the sight of Nezumi’s leg. He paused. 

Nezumi expected more of a response than that but then looked down on his leg to see a rash of red spots forming. They weren’t exactly itchy so he hadn’t noticed them. “It’s winter.” 

“That’s…” Shion paused, thinking. “Barlow’s disease. I…I should have noticed the symptoms! I mean these past couple of days you were tired and upset, they’re both common symptoms-- but I couldn’t tell! I am so sorry Nezumi!” 

Nezumi, offended by the honest implication that he had been grumpy and tired, (even though he is the manifestation of grumpiness and tiredness) barked back, “Shion vitamin deficiency is more common that death when living in poverty. Scurvy is one of the least uncomfortable side effects. Besides,” He shrugged. “It’s not dangerous if I watch it and I’m not stupid.” 

Granted, Nezumi had only ever experienced scurvy in its first stages, but he had always managed to catch it before it started to affect his bones and oral hygiene.

Meanwhile Shion’s face was distraught. “Barlow’s disease! Why! We need to feed you vitamin C right now!” Shion realized that he and Nezumi are basically on the same diet. “bOTH OF US! LEMONS! And…Oh no. What if we have anemia? Is that why people die so much—“

“Calm down. People die for a lot of reasons,” Nezumi offered.

“You’re right,” Shion agreed. He stood up. “I’m going to buy a source of Vitamin C. And A… …B. …Omega-G.” 

Nezumi, not knowing what Omega-G is, stood up too. “You don’t have the money for that.” 

“I know I... There must be something that has all the vitamins I can get. Like.” Shion began searching his brain. 

“Like a vitamin pill?” Nezumi mocked. 

“Like carrots! We can eat carrots! We’d be missing out on Vitamin A but.” He looked enlightened and darted out of the room. 

Nezumi stood in the room blankly, Shion certainly was motivated. He paused and since Shion wasn’t home he decided to take that shower anyway. 

\---- 

Shion rushed through the door three hours later holding three lemons and five carrots. 

Nezumi put down his book and looked over lazily, frowned, and returned to his book. “Where did your money go airhead?”

“You can’t eat money!” He noticed Nezumi’s wet hair, now that he was actually seeing him. “I... I put the soap on hold. It was just something to do to help.” 

“That’s a shame,” Nezumi said honestly. He grew uncomfortable with the sensation and added. “I like smelling like cured meat,” 

Shion popped out a pocketknife and quickly cut and offered a lemon half to Nezumi. 

Nezumi seeing the movement from the corner of his eye looked up disgusted. “What human just eats lemons?”

Shion sat next to him and offered the lemon again. 

“Fine, fine, fine.” Nezumi accepted the half and licked it once. 

Shion stuck the whole half a lemon in his mouth, winced and made a sound before starting to pull out and clean the carrots with his knife. 

Nezumi just LOOKED at Shion. “I think poverty has just broken you. You must be almost out of money or entirely out of it. “ 

Shion spits out the lemon on his lap and continues to clean the carrots, “Completely out of it. I’d expect you to spend your money towards survival too. Lick your lemon please.”

“My money’s not a joint account. “ Nezumi hesitantly licked the lemon but definitely not because of Shion’s asking.

“Nezumi…” Shion said pityingly because Nezumi must not know what a shared account is and that is sad because they have been living in a shared account. But Shion didn’t want to particularly argue about it right now. Any other day, he would. Today, he had to feed Nezumi those lemons. And… He offered Nezumi a carrot. 

Nezumi took and ate the carrot speedily, eying up at Shion multiple times. 

“Like a horse,” Shion said amazed. 

And with that fun time was over and Nezumi stood up to storm off.


End file.
